Chương 390: Book 6 - Chapter 51 - Tender

"How could you not tell that your arm had been blown off?" Nora screeched.

"Fuck if I know," I said, wiggling my stump, "ask Nyx."

"It's because your synthetic limbs and organs have a variety of systems and failsafes to keep you alive and aware during a fight," Nyx yelled, using a standard bear as a host, as they dragged Deadbeat across the cavern towards me.

"They can cut the pain receptors and inject you with a number of hormones to keep you sharp in an emergency."

"Is that why I don't feel pain?" I asked. Nyx nodded as Deadbeat rushed up to inspect my arm.

"What the fuck, boss? What did you do?" Deadbeat hissed, holding my shredded stump.

"Nothing! I just fought a particularly ugly Antithesis," I insisted.

"Well, instead of doing nothing, I suggest you dodge the next time," Deadbeat replied as she marched over to my severed limb to retrieve it.

"Hardy har har," I grumbled.

"I did dodge… after the first shot, and it's not like I let that thing escape unscathed. I took off one of its limbs in exchange!"

"I don't think that's something you should be proud of," Nora said.

"You should avoid losing limbs in a fight if you can."

"It's not like I did it on purpose," I growled.

"So, I have good news and bad news," Deadbeat said as she lined up my arm with the stump.

"The good news is, the arm can be reattached. The bad news is, I can't just stitch it back on. Whatever hit you went straight through your humerus, shattering it and shredding the surrounding flesh. There's also some sort of bacterial residue around the wound…"

"I suspect it's some sort of necrotizing bacteria. The higher-tiered Antithesis are fond of using that sort of thing on their weapons," Nyx said. I froze for a moment, then slowly turned towards Nyx.

"You mean the same sort of shit that killed Broodmother and the others back in Jasper? That sort of necrotizing bacteria? If that's true, how can you be so calm?" I asked, my voice slowly rising in both pitch and volume as I continued.

"Calm yourself, it's nowhere near as bad as it sounds," Nyx said, patting me on the good arm.

"Since you've undergone pretty much a full Synthetic body replacement, the bacteria won't be able to spread through your system as quickly, or cause as much damage, as they would against a regular human. You just need a quick Synthetic system flush, and you'll be right as rain."

"Then give it to me," I demanded, holding out a hand. Nyx flicked their wrist in a theatrical way, and an aerosol can materialized in its hand, which they promptly handed over to Deadbeat.

"Spray this liberally around the wound, and the immunization boosters will do the rest," they explained. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. While Deadbeat busied herself with cleaning up the wound, I glanced over at Nyx.

"So, what the fuck was that anyways? I've never seen such a passive Antithesis before."

"Passive?" Nora snorted.

"It blew off your arm!"

"I mean before it shot off my arm," I grumbled.

"It just stood there, staring at me, up to that point. Every other Antithesis that I've ever encountered has either blindly rushed me in a suicidal charge or retreated to a more strategic location so they can strike me from a distance. They've never just sat there, watching."

"Although I can't be sure, I suspect that was an Antithesis Gene Tender," Nyx replied.

"A fucking what?" I asked, suddenly twisting towards Nyx, only to receive a smack in the back of the head.

"Stop moving!" Deadbeat hissed.

"Sorry," I said apologetically before turning towards Nyx much more slowly this time, doing my best to keep the wound still.

"What does 'I suspect that was a Gene Tender' mean? What the fuck is a Gene Tender, and how can you not know?" Nyx sighed.

"While the Antithesis, as a whole, have a prodigious ability to adapt to their environment, they never would have grown to be the universe-spanning threat, one the protectors can't stamp out on their own, if that was all they had going for them. The Gene Tenders are something the Antithesis developed to help them accelerate the evolutionary process. They don't have a set form.

Each one is unique, and the older, stronger ones seem to have the ability to pull up every single evolutionary trait the Antithesis have ever developed and apply them to their forces at will. They can turn a simple infestation into a full-blown invasion in mere days."

"Is that why our forces kept running into something new every day or so?" Nora asked.

"It's very likely," Nyx replied.

"I suspect that might have been one of the architects of the Mars conflict, and it fled to earth when the battle was lost."

"And now it's lost because I couldn't finish it off," I growled.

"Wonderful."

"It's too bad that the hive has anti-orbital weapons, otherwise we could use the satellite network to try and track it," Nora said. I blinked a couple times.

"Oh, right."

"Oh, right? Did you hit your head during that fight and forget the Antithesis had a number of Anti-Orbital and Anti-Air emplacements keeping us from finishing it from afar?" Nora asked.

"No… I forgot I set something in motion before coming down here to deal with that," I replied before glancing over my shoulder and yelling at the top of my lungs.

"BANDIT!"

"Yes?" the fox replied, popping his head over the top of one of the Kodiaks.

"Is everything in place?" I asked.

"I'm waiting for a few of the backup spotters, but I've connected with enough forces to begin the operation," he replied.

"Excellent," I muttered.

"What operation?" Nora asked suspiciously.

"I put a failsafe into place in case we had trouble down here, something to make it easier for the Family and other assault groups approaching the hive," I told her.

"A failsafe, huh?" Nora replied.

"One that was run by Bandit, who was with you, so if we failed, you'd never be able to launch it?"

"Bandit was only the primary controller. Spooky would have taken over if we lost contact," I explained.

"Besides, I didn't actually think we'd fail." I turned towards the central pillar and eyed it up suspiciously.

"Did you trigger the device yet? I kind of expected the hive to be coming apart at the seams by now."

"Planted, but didn't trigger," Nora said.

"I kind of panicked when I saw your arm get severed from your body and came to back you up. And it's a good thing I did. That thing probably would have killed you if I hadn't forced it to retreat."

"And I appreciate it!" I said.

"We should trigger the device and then fight our way back to the surface. I suspect you'll want to see the fireworks; it'll be one hell of a show."

"You're not going anywhere except the back of a Kodiak," Deadbeat snapped.

"I need to operate on you to reattach your arm, and your armor has been compromised, so any exposure to the acidic gas the Antithesis have been using will cause extreme damage to your arm."

"Fine," I grumbled.

"Bandit, contact Spooky and have him begin the strikes once we begin pulling out. I expect this place is going to be a little unstable once the walls begin to putrify, and I'd rather not bring the entire place down on our heads."

"You've got it!" the fox replied, before ducking down again.

"What are you up to?" Nora asked.

"You'll see soon enough," I replied with a grin.

"How about you set up that device, and we get out of here? Once we regain surveillance, and I regain use of my arm, we'll track down that fucking tender and make it regret coming to Earth."